Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Thunderstorms Held Off

and I got a lot of work done today!  It was a gorgeous day, nearly 80 degrees.  I was outside before
7:00 a.m. when the temps were way more reasonable for hard physical garden work.  I dug out tons of stuff where grass had invaded and hauled 4 heavy wheelbarrow loads away.    I actually worked two hours, came in at 9:00 AM and did some laundry, rested a bit and went back out for another hour. At 11:30 AM, I came in showered and did another small load of laundry--all the clothes I had on during my morning work spree.  I dirtied 3 pairs of socks during my morning shoveling!  Once my garden work clothes were all dried, I put them all back on and went back outside around 1:00 pm for another couple of hours of work. It felt so good to feel that muscle soreness.....only we gardeners appreciate that feeling. :)  It means we have accomplished a lot.

My largest arbor area is one of the spots I worked on. I hauled out one big wheelbarrow load and replaced it with 80 lbs of fresh top soil.
Then I planted 5 seeds of 'Ruby Moon' Hyacinth Vine on each side. 
I am determined to get a vine to grow up this arbor! I have been trying for years and have never succeeded.  This time I removed everything that could shade out the vine.  I am optimistic that it will work this time!  If not, I am done trying.

I had planned to dig out all of these daylilies. But exhaustion caused me to come to my senses and I decided to leave them as is. 
This area is extremely difficult to dig in as it's all rock. Since these daylilies enjoy living here, I think I will just leave them as is.

I  spent considerable time in the back rockwall garden area pulling out dead creeping phlox by the handful as it was too tough to rake up (even after sitting there dead all winter). I also edged around the rocks. I am very happy with the gold spirea shrubs I planted last fall--they all survived and I love the chartreuse color!
Tomorrow I plan to work on my small rockwall garden you see above. I need to remove that red thug ground cover plant behind the chives--it is more of the dreaded sedum coral carpet.  It haunts me every time I walk through any of my gardens.

I really love chive buds, don't you?  I have planted a lot of chives in my gardens to flower (the pot on the deck is for eating and I don't let it flower as the chives get tough once flowered). Here are some more chives about to flower in another area:



I also crawled under the house storage space and brought out my blue milk cans.  You can see a portion of one below:

I was amazed to see my crabapple is already going downhill. It just started blooming on Sunday!
Once the thunderstorms finish tomorrow, it will probably be gone for another two years.

I had a very productive day off today.  I have not even shown you everything I accomplished.  I think I will sleep very good tonight!

14 comments:

  1. Sounds like you got a lot done. I wish you luck with the Hyacinth bean--I got it growing last year, but the season was much to short to produce any flowers. I was disappointed. Hopefully you can do what I could not. I'd LOVE to see pics of it in bloom.

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  2. Oh, no, Sue. I probably did all the work for nothing!

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  3. Zoey, Thanks for stopping by. You have been busy and you gardens show it. I love the long range pictures. Mine never seem to look as good as yours.I love the pop of color from the gold spiria. Lookin' good! Jean

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  4. Whew! I got tired just reading. What a hard worker you are. Glad you decided to leave the lilies...sometimes the flowers win.
    Balisha

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  5. Hi Zoey, You are indeed a very, very hard worker! Your garden reflects that...it's stunning! The chives are pretty and everything looks so green and lush. I do know about invasives, as I've dealt with several over the years. Don't be discouraged in advance regarding the hyacinth beans - I've had them here, successfully. Good luck Zoey!

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  6. You got a lot done, Zoey. We didn't get the storms they were predicting either. I finally went outside late and got a bit done...nothing like you did. It is supposed to be clear here tomorrow and rain Thursday.

    Your gardens are absolutely amazing. We might have a short growing season but you really get a lot out of it! Our crab apples bloomed for about 5 days before the wind took them. UGH..xo Diana

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  7. Wow Zoey you did get a lot done...that is a good kind of tired..the physical labor tired...

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  8. Oh my that Crab apple is beautiful!

    You yard looks amazing, I can't believe all the flowers you have.

    I do hope hubby rolls you out of bed before he leaves for work, or you may never get in an upright position!

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  9. You really had a productive day. I'm tired just reading all you did. Your gardens are beautiful and reflect your hard work.

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  10. Your gardens are really greening up well there. Hope you keep your Crab blooms much longer but you are right and the rain usually takes them down if it's a hard rain.

    Cher Sunray Gardens

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  11. Wow Zoey..you got a lot done! You are an inspiration to me..now I want to get out there and work:)
    We had a thunderstorm two nights ago but no rain with it..we really need rain!

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  12. Wow, looks great! It is kind of nice to be sore from gardening I guess.
    : )
    I am probably going out to do some work later. We are waiting on the dishwasher repair guy to make sure our dishwasher is suppose to sound like it's sounding. We only got it in November.
    We were going to my mom's but her dogs kept her up all night because of the storms which we didn't hear!

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  13. PS-I am sure the Hyacinth vine will grow as I had that last year. It went right up from under a shrub and up my shutter! It was planted near an invasion ground cover too.

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  14. Your property looks lovely but to achievve this I know it is a lot of work. I saw hyacinth bean vine at the nursery, already in pots and about three feet tall. They were expensive about $10.00 each. I grew it one year and it did just about nothing for me. I hope you have luck with it this year.

    Eileen

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